Hasselborg holds off Jones at Princess Auto Players’ Championship
TORONTO — Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg defeated Canada’s Jennifer Jones 7-5 during Wednesday’s morning draw in the Princess Auto Players’ Championship at Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Trailing 4-3, Hasselborg grabbed the lead for good with a score of four points in the sixth end. Jones, who has won the women’s title a record six times, could only count one in the seventh.
The defending champions Team Hasselborg evened their record to 1-1 in the round-robin portion of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event. Hasselborg made history last year by becoming the first women’s skip to complete a career Grand Slam in the series.
Third Sara McManus, who gave birth in late December, is back with the club after missing the previous two Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournaments. Hasselborg and second Agnes Knochenhauer are both expecting their second children.
Jones fell to a 0-2 record.
Elsewhere in the draw, Canada’s Kaitlyn Lawes climbed to a 2-0 record with a 7-2 victory over Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland.
Team Lawes got out to a hot start scoring three in the second and two in the fourth to lead 4-1 at the break.
Team Tirinzoni, who captured a fourth consecutive world championship last month, now hold a 0-2 record.
In men’s play, Canada’s Reid Carruthers clipped double defending champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland 7-6.
Team Carruthers (1-1) are playing as a trio as lead Connor Njegovan (paternity leave) is away this week.
Team Mouat, who are fresh off of winning their first world title Sunday in Ottawa, are now at 0-2.
Canada’s Brendan Bottcher earned a 6-4 win over Korey Dropkin of the United States.
Team Bottcher levelled their record to 1-1 while Team Dropkin dropped to 0-2.
Bottcher was victorious in the last Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event capturing the Co-op Canadian Open in January.
UP NEXT
Three more draws are on tap Wednesday with round-robin play continuing at 11:30 a.m. local time. Tickets are available at the box office and online at Ticketmaster.ca.
Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
NOTES: The Princess Auto Players’ Championship features 12 of the top men’s teams and 12 of the top women’s teams from around the world based on the World Curling Federation’s year-to-date world team rankings. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday. The best six teams overall qualify for Saturday’s playoffs with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday. … The Pinty’s Cup will also be awarded to the season champions in the series during the event.
